Mineralocorticoid Receptor

Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily and is essential for controlling sodium transport in epithelial tissues such as the kidney and colon.

Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) is a nuclear receptor (NR) that is critical for controlling sodium and potassium transport in epithelial cells, most notably in the kidney and colon. It also plays important roles in non-epithelial tissues, such as cardiac myocytes, blood vessels, the hippocampus and adipose tissue. The MR is capable of binding multiple classes of steroids with high affinity, including the mineralocorticoids, aldosterone and deoxycorticosterone, the glucocorticoids (GR), cortisol (in humans) or corticosterone (in rodents), and progesterone (PR). While aldosterone is considered the primary physiological MR ligand in humans, in some tissues cortisol may be the primary ligand for MR, whereas PR behaves as a predominant antagonist.